Recently a school management committee in Kerala suggested to start the practice of similar uniform for all students-shirt and shorts in summer and sweaters and pants in winters, irrespective of their gender. They seconded their decision saying even the defense forces had the same uniform for all officers-men and women.
During my seventh month of pregnancy, a ceremony was conducted, generally known as ‘God-bharai’ in Hindi. I was made to wear green colour sari (representing fertility) and ornaments made with fresh seasonal flowers. A swing was decorated and kept in the center of the room and I was made to sit there while other ladies sang songs and entertained me. Afterwards, a plate with covered bowls was kept in front of me and I was told to open one of them. The bowl I opened had a ‘laddoo’ (an Indian sweet, round in shape) inside. The room suddenly echoed the loud cheering of the audience, while my mother whispered in my ear “It’s going to be a baby boy!” Then I was told if it was a ‘pedha’ (another Indian sweet, made out of milk, white in colour) I would have had a baby girl. After a month or so, I had a baby girl. I was relieved because I thought I didn’t know enough about boys and wouldn’t be able to raise them.
My daughter turned four and started going to a play school. My daughter’s gender was not very significant until we attended a Christmas Party organized for children. “Oh! Are you Shruti’s parents? Your daughter’s amazing!” I heard more than one lady telling us this. All of them told me how lucky we were to have such a quiet, well-behaved, loving, smart daughter. Most of them had mistaken her to be a boy, as she used to talk like a boy in Hindi. (P.S: Indian languages have gender markers in verbs, so one can make out if it is a girl or a boy speaking). When I said that I found their sons hardly different, they started talking about how they were all similar to unguided missiles! It was difficult for them to keep them busy at home and they would always end up messing the whole place. Their games had to revolve around noisy things like guns, thieves, police, fire alarms and cars. And then I told them, my daughter was also the same. But they won’t believe me.
For them, pink and blue were only colours, till we told them that pink was for girls and blue for boys. Boys would be interested in the things they see their fathers like to do and girls would learn from their mothers. And then I realised it was as compartmentalized as this with my daughter because she saw both of us taking turns to do things with her. She saw both of us wearing the same uniform and going to work. At home, both of us were doing the same household work as well as playing games with her or bathing her or putting her to sleep. She played with dolls as well as balls. Also the rules were same for all and so were the privileges. Work was not divided between us depending on gender (like I cook and clean because I am the mother and he reads the newspaper and listens to news because he is the man). 
Remember how elated the father (played by Aamir Khan) in recent Bollywood blockbuster ‘Dangal’ is when he sees how his daughters have beaten boys double their age black and blue! He says ‘Gold to gold hai, chahe ladka jeete ya ladki’ (It doesn’t matter who wins the medal- a boy or a girl, a gold IS a gold.) He trains them as he would have trained his sons. He doesn’t teach them to be boys, he only teaches them to fight. The confidence is echoed back by his elder daughter in her maiden Dangal (Indian wrestling competition) when the referee tells her opponent-a boy to go soft on her as she is a girl; she tells her male opponent ‘Ladki samajh kar mat ladna (Don’t under estimate me just because I am a girl).
What matters is whether it is a healthy n happy child!
